SOURCE: "The Poetic Vision of 'Le colline': An Introduction to Pavese's Lavorare stanca," in Italica, Vol. XLII, No. 1, March, 1965, pp. 380-90.

In the following excerpt, Foster examines Pavese's use of "the hills " as both a poetic setting and as a basis for reality in Lavorare stanca.

Cesare Pavese in Lavorare stanca (1936; 1931-35) chooses to limit his poetic perspective in an attempt to capture the many facets of a restricted reality. His native countryside, the hills around Turin, serve as the thematic orientation for his poems. In this his first book of poetry as in his work as a whole, Pavese turns a coldly critical eye upon his material, ruthlessly scrutinizing it and unmercifully portraying the bitterest of realities. Although the poet is cynical and sophisticated, his material is not, and it is from the interplay of these two oppositions that the poetry's interest arises. While we may say...